"Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people." - Tom Clancy.

Monday, 14 April 2014

Part 1

The hooded man tilted his head at the mage. His eyes began glowing blue with magical energy and the vortex grasped hold of the sorcerer's face.
"We had a deal, Dyrim Hote. I paid you and you said you had the weapon. So where is it?"
"It-"
"It was a rhetorical question, Hote. I already know the answer. You can not hide information from me. You know what my power is. And you know what it can do."
"Yes, but-"
"Again. There is no need to answer because I already know what you are going to say. You do not have the weapon. If you do not have the weapon, our business is concluded."
"But-"
Dyrim Hote's brain ceased to function. The hooded man reached inside the corpse's jacket pocket and removed Hote's wallet, taking his money back. The hooded man pushed the amulet which hung around his neck - black in colour in the shape of a dragon. There was a flash of energy and he disappeared from Hote's apartment and reappeared in a new place altogether, about a kilometre below the Irish Sanctuary.
The Order of the Basilisk was a magical guild which resided deep in the bowels of every Sanctuary in the world. The Grand Mages didn't even know they existed. And that is because they kept it that way.
Every agent in the Order had the ability to influence people's minds - some to a lesser extent than others.
The Order of the Basilisk had a purpose, unlike most mages. They gathered and preserved information, sometimes releasing it to the world, sometimes not. It all depended on what they saw fit. They were information brokers, primarily. Selling information was how their organisation survived. There were always people who needed knowledge. They would sell the information, then wipe all knowledge from the Order from their minds. For those people, it was like they knew exactly what to do - but had no idea why.
Currently, they were tracking one of the God Killer weapons. In particular, the sword which could kill anything with a single cut. One of the scouts had picked up a piece of information during a standard connection with the Grand Mage of the Irish Sanctuary. There were people after it. And instead of taking the usually indirect method of intervening in such matters, they opted for trying to counter the plot to steal the sword, deeming it appropriate for them to combat.
The hooded man walked through the hallways of the underground cavern the Order's base was set inside. It was lit with an eerie blue glow, and was shrouded in shadow. In the centre there was a rock structure - similar to a stalactite but it was around thirty metres in diameter and pulsating with blue energy. It acted as a magical database with unlimited capacity and unbreakable security. It was the hub of their entire organisation, containing all information the Order had absorbed from around the world.
The hooded man's eyes glowed blue once again and the mind vortex connected to the database, uploading the data he had collected on the location of the God Killer weapon.
He then pushed his amulet again and returned to his previous location. Hote's body was still there, laying in the shadows of the archives containing magical objects of varying degrees.
It now belonged to the Order. They would have good use for it.
As if summoned by magic, a group of thirty hooded figures flashed beside him and began to lock down the location. There was not a single word uttered between them.
The hooded man left the archive.